Lucas Strack is not only an architect; he’s a craftsman who creates custom wooden pieces, from coffee tables to coffins.
Strack, 35, a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Conway, lends his skills each year to the bazaar held in August to benefit the church’s school. One year he built canoes; this year, he decided to build a coffin.
It is made from the western red cedar of discarded pews at St. Joseph. He also used a piece of a 90-year-old pecan tree from the school grounds to create a cross to decorate the coffin.
“I’ve been building stuff for the bazaar as long as I can remember,” he said. “What inspired a coffin was, I went up to Subiaco Abbey for a men’s retreat with St. Joe. We got to spend a few days staying there and seeing how the monks live.”
Although it was not part of the monastery tour, Strack said, he knew the monks had a woodshop. He got a few of his fellow parishioners together, and the monks let them into the woodshop.
He knew the monks made coffins because his uncle had worked for Diamond Millwork, now Nabholz Millwork, and that business used to make pine coffins for the monks before they did it at the monastery.
“They build their own coffins; there’s a cemetery there. If they are called to be there, they live there until they die,” Strack said. A monk was working on a coffin while the St. Joseph Catholic Church men were there.
Strack said he and Tim Nabholz decided that’s what they would build for this year’s St. Joseph Catholic School Bazaar, which took place Aug. 2-3.
The monks gave the men the blueprints for the coffins. Strack took the lead on the project and said Nabholz and Raymond Gunther primarily worked with him. Others who helped were Jerry Hiegel and John Nabholz.
“It took about 45 man hours,” Strack said.
The silent auction didn’t go exactly as planned. Strack said he hoped the coffin would bring $3,000, and someone put an opening of $1,500, but no one else bid.
Strack said the lone bidder didn’t really want the coffin; he was just trying to get the bidding started.
“He said, ‘Where am I going to put it?’” Strack said.
The coffin is in the St. Joseph Endowment Office, 1315 College Ave., and will remain there until someone wants to buy it, with the proceeds going to the school.
Jacqueline Kordsmeier, a lifelong parishioner and volunteer for the bazaar, said Strack’s work is appreciated.
“Lucas has been gracious for many years now in contributing some of his handmade things, from coffee tables to benches to tables to bookshelves,” she said.
Kordsmeier said the old church pews were removed in the 1990s from the original church when an addition was built. The former church is now a chapel. “They have been repurposed into beautiful handwork he has done,” she said.
Strack said the pews were stored for years in a furniture-store warehouse. When the furniture store needed them to be moved, Strack and and a group of men took the pews, some intact, some in pieces, and stored them in various places. Strack said he still has wood and intact pews for future repurposing.
The pecan tree he used had to be taken down when Spiritan Hall was built on campus, Strack said. He milled the wood into slabs and air-dried them for about 2 1/2 years and used the wood to make a cross for the front of the coffin.
“When I was a kid going to St. Joe, I would pick up pecans from this tree on the playground,” he said.
Strack said he supports his alma mater with his woodworking talents to help his nieces and nephews, all of whom attend the school.
“I’m not married; I don’t have any kids, so I’m really doing all this work for them. I’m trying to support them and leave them a legacy,” he said.
A 2002 graduate of St. Joseph, he graduated in 2006 from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville School of Architecture with a degree in architectural studies.
“Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be an artist, cartoonist or architect. I always had my mind set on being an architect. … I really like construction and building and working with my hands,” he said
He would work with his father, Marty, building birdhouses or tables.
“I got into furniture-making whenever I was in architecture school in Fayetteville. There was a shop in the architecture building, and we would build models and stuff out of wood; I started doing other projects.”
Strack especially liked making coffee tables.
“I just like doing that because there are so many different designs.”
Each summer and Christmas vacation through college, he worked for Nabholz Custom Millwork.
After architectural school, he came back to Conway and worked for Nabholz again in cranes and equipment and custom millwork. Then he heard that the University of Arkansas at Little Rock was starting a furniture-design program, and he was one of the first six students in the program.
“That was more of an independent-studies program,” he said.
Strack joined RPPY Architects Little Rock, where he worked about eight years. His credits include designing the Arkansas Food Bank.
Then he took a job at WER Architects/Planners in Little Rock, where he worked until he joined H+N almost 1 1/2 years ago.
“It was a very good place to work,” he said of WER. “I didn’t want to leave, but H+N came and said, ‘Hey, we want to incorporate your furniture business with our architecture business.’ I jumped all over that,” Strack said. Plus, it was in Conway.
“At H+N, if we design a building for somebody, we’re designing a reception desk, cabinets, millwork. … We say, ‘Hey, do you want something neat or fun that we can design in-house?’ Design-build is really in.”
“We’ve done a lot of work for Blue Cross and Blue Shield,” he said.
The business has been renovating its downtown Little Rock multistory building.
“On their executive floor — they wanted a custom coffee table, two pieces of wall art and a coat-and-hat rack for their conference room. Those are neat little projects, actually,” Strack said.
In addition to his architectural work, he opened Strack Studio Furniture about 5 1/2 years ago on the side; his studio is in his backyard.
Strack said the hardest project he’s ever worked on was a wooden boat, tunnels and a stage in the playground at Hendrix College’s nature preserve.
“It was just such a big project, and … you didn’t have any power out there. I had to bring a generator out there. If I needed to pour concrete for the little stage — I had to bring a bunch of water, a big water tank, and mix the water with the concrete. It took a lot of time to install.”
He’s proud of the workmanship on all his pieces, including the coffin.
“I’m happy with it because I got a lot of compliments on it and more positive feedback than, ‘Oooh, that’s morbid. Why would you do that?’ The exposure and the fact that people are interested outweigh the bad.”
His goal is to continue to work at H+N, design and create.
Strack said H+N is discussing creating a separate business called Meraki, from the Greek word that describes “putting a piece of yourself in it.” The business would be a partnership between H+N and Strack Studio Furniture to do more architectural woodwork, such as art and sculpture, for the H+N clients.
Meraki is the motto of H+N, he said.
“You put your whole self in what you do, and you leave a piece of yourself in your work,” Strack said. “We’re designing and creating. It’s coming from our brains and thoughts. … With woodworking and furniture-making, it’s the same thing.
“I’m putting all this blood, sweat and tears in it. I’m leaving a piece of myself in my work.”
Strack is taking that motto literally.
He said he’s considering building his own coffin someday.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-5671 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.